Indonesia on Track to Greater Financial Inclusion

Millions of unbanked Indonesians are going to enjoy easier access to the savings, loan and insurance services on the back of the government’s renewed political will to tackle financial exclusion, an executive at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s seeks to grant access to financial services to 75 percent of Indonesian adults by 2019, up from 36 percent in 2014.

Jokowi has introduced a national strategy to promote financial inclusion through education, public financing facilities, supportive regulations and consumer protection. The strategy brings together Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

“There is a renewed political will, therefore, we are here to bring back all the information to the table so that we can reassess our strategy,” the foundation’s program officer for the Financial Services for the Poor, Elisa Sitbon, said on Thursday (23/03).

“We think if Indonesia is able to assemble right now all this [data] into a coherent vision that aligns all the ministries and all the concerned parties, then you can reach the target by 2019 and that’s very exciting,” she added.

During her visit to Jakarta last week, Sitbon talked to the Jakarta Globe about the foundation’s upcoming projects in Indonesia.